I cook up all of this and we'll eat on it for 3 days or so, then the Bullies get the leftovers.
I'm sure you'll notice there is no dessert. Don't throw a pot at me, I'd rather have another serving of a veggie as to have a dessert. I have this goofy idea that sugar makes my insides quiver.

All courtesy of my MIL, whose southern food outranks mine anyday. It's the kind of meal that you eat only once or twice a year because it's guaranteed to instantly clog your arteries while simultaneously raising your blood sugar to life-threatening levels, and you can almost feel the fat cells multiplying as you eat it. But hoo boy! If I keeled over, I'd die happy.

I picked okra (again) today. By tomorrow I should have enough for another four pints of hot pickled okra. I won't heat up the kitchen to process fewer than 4 pints...it's a personal (and quirky) rule of mine.

I ADORE okra. Gumbo, pickled (especially) and stewed. I even like fried okra now, although I used to gag on it. (Go figure. And yes, it was as an adult that I tried and failed to eat it, even though I could scarf it down in gumbo and even stewed!

DH loves fried okra, and as a young bride I'd fix it for him, but couldn't eat it...now he has to arm-wrestle me for his fair share ;o)

Terry - LOL LOL I'm the same way about the fried okra. I'm the one who stands over the fryer while Bob is steady eating what I've cooked and put on the screen to drain. A few and I wouldn't mind, but he's eating so much that I'm not making any headway. Finally, I just have to say, you can't eat any more until I can!!!

Linda, have you ever done the "match in the oil" to test for the right temp? Kids of *all* ages love to watch it! And while you're frying up that catfish, I'll have a bite or ten, along with some bass and bream if there is any in the pot, and make up another batch of puppy mix, too, 'cause I'm strrving' for a good "fry"!
ginni

HoneyBaked Ham, fruit salad, crowder peas,creamed corn,my mama's cornbread dressing,and pecan pie. In other words - Christmas and Thanksgiving family get-to-gethers. Only my mama's gotta throw in a few more veggies and a couple more desserts. She makes all of this herself,along with homemade rolls, except for the ham of course. She cooks for at least 18 - sometimes more- plus the preacher and a few neighbors ! She is 78 and I keep wondering how long she can keep this up. There is no one in the family that can or WILL do it if something should happen to her. Guess we will have to get a big ole bucket of KFC ! (yuck)

I'll tell you one thing... we all know how to eat!!! Why don't we eat like this at the Round Up??? It would be much better than a baloney sandwich!!!

Mmmm. I love:
Fried corn (as in, pick it, shuck it, clean it, cut it from the cob, add butter, salt, a little sugar... let it cook in an iron skillet in the oven. I can't make it very good, but my mom does... what am I gonna do when I don't have her any more!)
Sweet potatoes or candied yams
Okra... boiled, fried...
Fresh sliced tomatoes
Fresh sliced onion (the sweeter the better, but it's always a crap shoot when you cut an onion)
HOT Cornbread with lotsa butter

I can eat this until I have to roll away from the table... MMmmmmmmm, OOoooooo, AAAaaahhhhhhh

OK - the match test. You need a 'cardboard' type match - like from a matchbook. I don't know if a wooden match would work.

Once you have the oil heating just drop the match into the oil. It will absorb oil until it sinks to the bottom of the pot. When the oil reaches high enough temp ( just happens to be right for fish) the match will light and rise to the top of the oil. Just lift it out, drop in your fish and supper is on the way!

I'm sure lots of people will have much to say about the safety of this little trick, and I'm sure they will be right! I've only seen it done once. There were no dire consequences and it was great fun. Ya'll just use your own judgement about it.
ginni

Homemade biscuits, sausage gravy (not too thick, not too thin, peppery, but not too much pepper)...grits, fried potatoes (or a hashbrown casserole), and a couple fried eggs for good measure. With lots of hot strong coffee.

Or beignets - but only from Cafe du Monde in Nawleans? (sob...lip quivers...will I ever be able to sit at an outdoor table at my beloved CDM again, and listen to the street musicians play their lazy jazzy melancholy blues?

Fried apples are easy. Apples, sliced (one of those corer/slicer thingies works pretty good) Peeling is optional (if the peel is fairly thin and tender, leave it on - if the apples are a bit older and the skin is tough, peel them.

Place apples in a heavy skillet with some butter (margarine in a pinch, but butter's better) and some sugar, and a pinch of cinnamon.

A bit of fresh orange rind and/or a squeeze of orange juice if you want (optional)

Heat over medium heat, stirring until butter and sugar have melted. Continue to cook (stirring frequentlly) until apples are soft and butter/sugar have slightly caramelized. Serve immediately. Can be a side dish, especially to pork or poultry, or served over ice cream as a dessert.

Please don't ask me for proportions - I never measure...it just depends on how big of a crowd I'm feeding.

Oh this makes me so hungry. All this food is the reason that I am on a diet. Good ole southern cooking.

Have you ever tried raw okra? Just picked off the plant, I like the real small ones. Oh soooo gooood. But I can eat a meal in the garden. The Neighbors garden this year. LOL Okra, fresh raw corn, cukes, tomatoes even the little squash makes a good snack.

I had never heard of fried apples until I married my kid's Dad (that's how I ALWAYS refer to him), his Mom was not a great cook but introduced me to fried apples just the way Terry described them. I got hooked! Haven't made them in quite some time - makes me want to...real soon. She also introduced me to apple butter, I'd never heard of it either. That was 32 years ago! They were from VA.

Oops, forgot.
My favorite southern meal is just about any that my Mom cooks but if I had to choose -
Roasted chicken
Dressing (southern style made with cornbread)
Fried okra
Baby butter beans
stewed potatoes (or creamed)
ice tea
then for dessert...banana pudding and a good cup of coffee

Ginni, No, I have never heard of the "match in oil" test, but I can assure you that the next time I have the brothers and nephews over for fried fish I will test it just to "show off" for them. You know brothers and nephews they think they know everything...lol.

I don't believe there is Southern dish that I do not enjoy. Too bad that it is all so fattening. I started eating "healthy" years ago, but don't see much of a difference in the weight thing. lol Arteries are happier, but hips and tummy are just as round as ever. lol

Ya'll have made me so hungry for fried food that I think I may have to fry my squash next time instead of steaming it.

Fried apples - yummmmmy! How could we forget those, and it reminded me of another one I forgot about - fried peach pies. Oh I wish I could make them like my mother and aunts made them. That was something. Now it's got me thinking of all that other fried stuff - fried green tomatoes & fried potatoes (I like mine with a bit of onion, salt and a small bit of pepper). And Terry, I agree about the deviled eggs and your breakfast menu too.

BigDaddy, Yankee style? Hmmm. Do you like sauerkraut too. Have you ever tried fried kraut with apples? Horseradish is wonderful too.
Yes to the fried new potatoes, skin on sliced thin, lots of chopped onion and coarse pepper and salt pan fried in BACON grease! Yum, yum.
Never tried fried apples but have seen them in the store canned and wondered how good could canned be...
Fried fish, a good cup of coffee, fried pies ~ man, I am ready to feast!

IMHO the best way to prepare corn on the cob is throw the whole ear, husk and all, into the microwave and zap it for a minute. While you are waiting, butter a slice of bread, then when the bell rings, pull the corn husk back and roll the ear on the bread (which coats the corn with lots of melted butter). Fresh cracked black pepper to taste.

My most favorite Southern dish hasn't been mentioned.
Spoon bread.
Spoil any man with a fresh baked bowl of spoon bread with butter and preserves and I just know he'll do anything... Mow the grass... trim the hedges...

BigDaddy, you better be careful... You're about to be drafted as the cook for the Round Up!!! Your food sounds too good to miss!!! I love Yankee hot dogs! I had a hot dog today for lunch with deli mustard, onion, and sauerkraut, my favorite ingredients!!

Judy and Big Daddy...I don't have plans for tomorrow. Can I come for Fried Pies? Please...

My grandmother used to make fried pies every day when we went to visit. Thin crust and full of fruit. She would fry them, then stack them to cool. The best treat a person could have.

Dinner at her house was usually chicken and dumplings, turnip greens, mashed potatoes, fried corn, fresh homemade yeast rolls with homemade butter dripping off the top. There was always a big jar of blackberry jelly, honey from the hives in the apple orchard and peach preserves on the table. They always kept a cow and churned their own butter. I still have the churn but now it is a lamp. LOL

Dinner for DH and me tonight was a salad with fat free dressing and a glass of unsweetened tea. Where have I gone wrong??????

Picabo... Judy makes the best peach fried pies... Yesterday, she made barbeque spaghetti, garlic toast, and sweeet tea for lunch. She's the best! although she has never cooked for two, she always makes enough for a thrashin' crew... so I just ate and ate all afternoon. For late supper, I went on the cheap: Stoned wheat crackers, Romanoff caviar (50 cents a jar), lime juice and a glass of Crane Lake Chardonnay ($4.99 a bottle).

This is what I can remember from a Virginia recipe for Spoon Bread:
a cup of yellow cornmeal and about a quarter cup of grits; two and a half cups of water; half a stick of butter (real butter); a cup of half and half; and three or four eggs.

Preheat the oven to 375 while you make the "dough"...

Bring the water to a boil and cut the heat down and stir in the cornmeal and grits-- keep stirring til it's thick and then take it off the heat and stir in the butter and half and half (I add white pepper) and the egg yolks (just the yolks). Here's the secret: Beat egg whites until soft peaks form and fold into the cornmeal mixture. Dump it into a buttered souffle pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the edges brown and the middle sets.

It's ready to serve with butter and preserves like raspberry or cherry or 'lasses.
You'll never forget your first spoon bread...

i started the southern cooking when 2nd hus. from s.c. 3rd last from Georgia.. i love all but greans collards .. i made him a cornbread with J. peppers in, corn , onions. my own version he hates a sweet corn bread so was from scratch to. hope Judy is well.. i know she has to be the very best cook..

I understand Betty. I decided to splurge and have something off of my diet the other day. While DH said grace, I noticed that he slipped a little extra clause in the prayer, asking that it not go to my thighs and upset me...LOL

DRAIN and Pile everything onto the center of your picnic table which you have covered with newspapers. When you finish you can just roll the tablecloth up and throw anything that might be leftover away. Serve with sourdough bread and cocktail sauce.

Edenawaitsme...tell me what time to be there! All of that sounds SO good! I've given up on diet! Doc says unless I can do cardio exercise its not doing me any good anyway. Hey, if I'm gonna go - I'd like to go happy (even if it is Fat!)

Jusdeb, suppertime may be late... Do you notice when all the yummy posts start? There's a message in there somewhere.
A friend and wife are on a diet. He said he broke down and was scooping Bluebell vanilla to make a float. His wife came by and with bare fingers grabbed one clump of ice cream and went to devouring it. Talk about food deprivation!

I did not see anyone mention, hot biscuits and tomato gravy, mashed potatoes floating in butter, purple hull peas of course you gotta have the fired okra with this meal.
Love that tomato gravy on a hot biscuit in the summer when the tomatoes are fresh.
Sandra

For lunch today, I had one of my most favorite desserts: Bread Pudding!
Judy uses stale raisen bread as a base and tops it off with praline syrup or JD frosting...
A couple of years ago we spent three days driving from Memphis to NOLA stopping at old plantations to breakfast and lunch. We found one bread pudding that was out of the world and asked for their recipe (which they gave us!) That is the basis of Judy's bestest bread pudding.

LOL
no, don't do it! I've been tortured enough for all of us (and everyone on weight watchers in the great state of Alabama).
I can share my recipe for cookie dough...but it's just that. Cookie dough. Never makes it past that point...
;-)

That sounds like the pud'num I used to get at the local plate lunch restaurant but the frosting had cinamon (cin'um) in it, yum. We've been in the south since 1994 and my wife still hasn't had a plate lunch. I love the choice of two "vegetables" that usually lists things like mac & cheese, mashed potatoes, rice & gravy, french fries, etc. That's kind of like counting catsup as a vegetable! I count them as simple starches . . . not recommended for low carb calorie counters, Eh, Deb? I've run off 30 lbs in the last year and have to give up beer and other simple carbs. I still eat dark chocolate, though.

Changing the topic from the evil bread pud'num, I need to understand the South's continued fascination with balogna (baloney) on white bread. I gave that up in the 70's. Nutritionally void & bland to the palate? Why do people still eat that? I had a wild grilled salmon salad salad sandwhich on a whole wheat bagel with Vermont white cheddar for lunch. But I'm not from 'round here and I'm not in a hurry to meet my maker.

Judy / Big D. -- Have you tried the wasabi peanuts & wasabi fried green peas at Ada's Unusaul Country Store in Bethel Springs / Amish Bakery? It's funny to feed them to people at work that aren't too familiar with horseradish especially the hot green Japanese horseradish they serve with Sushi. Ada's is where my DW buys my 50lb bag of rolled oats for breakfast. LOL. Joe

Melt butter, sugar and lemon juice over moderate heat, stirring constantly until bubbly to desolve sugar. Remove pan from heat to cool slightly. Then stir in eggs, QUICK QUICK or they will lump. (You could do it the slow method by adding a little of the mixture to the eggs before you toss them into the pot.) Stir sauce over low heat for a few seconds until thickened slightly.

Makes 3 cups

(I think I'll go try mixing all ingredients in a pot and then cook it. It will either be real quick or Yuck)

I don't eat sweets as a general rule so I'll make the above sauce without the Jack Daniels, I'll use it on my one serving of bread pudding, then I add the JD in the remaining sauce for Bob.

I've only stopped in at Ade's once and that was several years ago. I believe it has changed hands since then. I'll have to stop in the next time we're going to Jackson, TN. Normally we go south to take care of business or to play.

Don't tell me you haven't gone to the New China Buffet in Corinth, MS?? I love that place. It is the only restaurant that I really enjoy and so uptown for this area. Sushi, oysters on a half shell, shrimp cooked every way in the world .. just to name some of the things I like. It was so funny I saw all these little kids and real country people who I couldn't believe were eating suchi. I was beside a lady loading her plate down. I said my husband loves this raw fish just to get her reaction. She said it's not raw, it's been cooked. lol lol

I just make regular gravy, shortening, flour, salt and pepper, then add tomatoes for the liquid, either fresh that are diced up or canned, then you can add as much milk as you need for the rest of the thinner to get it the way you like to eat gravy. I like it kinds thick.
I make pot roast with tomato gravy also, I simmer the roast on top of the stove until it is tender, then add the potatoes and carrots and make a tomato gravy to pour on top of it all then let it cook in the oven until the veggies are tender. It is the only way my bunch wants the roast cooked and it takes a while but is worth the effort.
Since you did not know about tomato gravy do any of you make choclate gravy for breakfast???
Sandra
Sandra

Sandra, yeah, my mom makes chocolate gravy... for my sister. She used to make it for her when she was young. I had already left home so didn't 'acquire' a taste for it. I've tried to stay away from it... :)

Made the "impossible cheeseburger pie" for DH last night! I had been trying to come up with something quick and easy to make him for supper (with what little I had in the fridge and pantry) and low and behold I sign in to DG and get what I need!
He liked it ok. Said to make it without onions next time...I told ya'll he is picky! Must have been ok...he ate almost the whole thing.
Thanks once again for the good links.
Deb

Deb - My Dad always said "less onions" too. Mom discovered that if she chopped them real fine, so he couldn't actually see the pieces, he ate without a word. We figured out it wasn't the flavor, just the soft texture, that he didn't care for. My sister and I always did the same thing for any meals we fixed for him.

Bob would have been saying a little salsa might be interesting. lol lol

I have a friend who will not eat onion, if he can see it, but if it's cut so fine enough so he can't see it, he gobbles it down. Whenever there is a potluck event he'll remind everyone, cut the onion fine. lol lol

I thought I had chopped them fine enough and saute'd them enough that he wouldn't notice...the stinker found 1 piece that was a little chunky...he still ate it...I think he would enjoy some tomatoes in it as well. Good recipe for a quick meal. Sometimes, I use onion powder for the flavor without the texture but every now and again I get selfish and add the onions because I like them. ...do the same thing with garlic!

I agree podster. I like spicey - but my aging stomach and DH just can't handle it. Every now and then, I take my Nexium and plunge in just for old times sake.

Deb, if ever you come here for dinner, be sure to remind me!! Everything I cook is full of onion, garlic, hot pepper and LOADS of other spices. I make my own BBQ dry rub, pork seasonings, etc. I wouldn't know how to cook a non-spicy meal. I even put red pepper flakes in my cooked cabbage.

Hey, he's a grown man...I tell him when we go somewhere - eat it or pass on it but let everyone else enjoy! I tell you, the man's mamma ruined him on good food...its sad..I can't even cook like I want to. He really IS learning, I just have to take it one meal at a time and introduce things that I know he will like if he just tries it. I just love food (and keep the Nexium and Prilosec handy)
Everything you mentioned sounds SO good and I just realized I haven't had my morning coffee or cereal yet! See ya'll later - my tummy is growling!

Thanks everyone!!! I was going really well with my diet 'til I started reading this thread - GOODBYE Diet - I've just got the biggest craving for Pancakes with maple syrup, ice cream and whipped cream - not forgetting the Jack Daniels (don't want to be accused of wasting)!!!! LOL :-) Lee

Prepare cake mix according to package directions, making two 8 or 9 inch layers. When layers are completely cool, split in half. While cake is cooling, combine sugar sour cream and coconut, blending well, chill

Before putting together the cake, reserve 1 cup of the sour cream mixture. Spread the remainder between layers of cake, making a layer cake four stacks high. Combine reserved sour cream mixture with whipped topping, blending until smooth. Spread on top and sides of cake.

Seal cake in an airtight container and refrigerate for three days before serving. This will keep many days longer, if it has a chance.

Hey folks,...at my son's and he was trying to find a recipe for chocolate gravy this AM. Told him I'd never heard of it until you guys and so would somebody tell us how to make it please???? He, DIL, and DH cooked a large b'fast this morn. DH grilled last night. Looks like its a EATING vacation but, then, aren't all Southern vacations with family a reason to eat unreasonably!?
I'll check back later for recipe. Going to be a busy time. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Mix the cocoa, sugar, and flour together. Add the milk, making sure it mixes smoothly. Heat (medium) and stir constantly until it thickens, about 8 minutes. Take off of heat. Add butter. Stir until it is melted and mixed. Add vanilla and stir until mixed.

Serve hot over buttered biscuits. Buttered toast will do in a pinch.

Notes: This is an almost lost Ozark classic. It hardly ever shows up in ethnic or regional cookbooks.

If this cools, it becomes something else: chocolate pudding!

Chocolate gravy is a great way to make sure your kids get their minimum daily requirement of sugar!

That sounds so much like what my MiL called cold bread pudding. She would make a chocolate sauce and pour over leftover, cold, crumbled biscuits. Often top with meringue and lightly toast. It was so yummy, she is gone and so is her recipe. I tried, but could never duplicate what she made.

My grandmother (who died in 1957) used to take the "leftover" breakfast biscuits, put butter and sugar on them, and put them in her wood stove oven until the butter melted... It's really hard to duplicate a wood burning stove these days... That's one of my special memories.